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You’ve said “I do,” he’s kissed the bride, and now it’s time to party! Kick off those heels and mix, mingle, dine, and dance the night away with family and friends. But finding the perfect reception spot is no easy feat – Luckily, we’re here to help!

Consider your style, head count, and budget.

Before deciding where to host your reception, there are a few things to consider. To start: What’s your wedding’s style? A casual summer wedding requires completely different accommodations from a formal winter wedding, so first nail down your preferred style and season. Next: How many made the guest list? If you haven’t made one yet, hop to it – you’ll need a head count so you can find a reception site to suit your needs. Finally: How big is your budget? This goes hand-in-hand with your guest list – sometimes, your budget will determine the number of guests you can afford to have, not to mention the caliber of venue. Once you’ve made these critical decisions, start the search.

Search for sites that suit your needs.

Local bridal publications and websites, wedding shows, married friends, and Google are all great sources of potential reception sites. Typical venues include hotels, banquet halls, restaurants, community centers, and country clubs. Other options might be country inns, historic homes or estates, city parks, college or university facilities, museums, galleries, and boats.

Each of these potential venues will be one of two things: on-site or off-site. Most on-site locations offer the majority of services needed to host a reception: catering of food and drink, chairs, tables, tableware and linens, and a serving staff. With all these necessities already covered and calculated into the cost of the venue, on-site is an appealing, potentially less-stressful way to go. Off-site locations usually provide only the facility for a flat fee – you’re responsible for the rest. The nice thing about off-site? You have the freedom to do everything your own way and control costs of individual services.

Narrow down your search by focusing on sites that meet all of your needs, including your style, season, budget, and estimated number of guests. Once you have your sights set on a few choice venues, take a day trip to check them out.

Evaluate your options.

Every venue offers advantages and disadvantages. Your job is to sift through the features of each and find what works best for you. Here are some things to consider:

Location. To avoid inconveniencing your guests, the reception site should be no more than a 30-minute drive from the ceremony – ideally less. But if there’s no avoiding it and the site is located in a remote area or poses parking and traffic challenges, you should consider providing shuttles for your guests.

Size and layout. Is the venue in question just one large room, or will cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing each take place in separate, smaller rooms? Make sure the cocktail area is large enough for guests to mix and mingle and that the dinner area will comfortably hold the number of tables you’ll need. Make doubly sure that the dance floor is big enough for everyone to bust a move! Beyond spatial comfort, also consider temperature. Throwing a summer wedding? Don’t skimp on air conditioning.

Privacy. If the reception site caters to multiple events simultaneously, find out if there are any other bookings on the date you have in mind. If there are, work with your site contact person to ensure that you will have adequate privacy for your celebration.

Parking. Make sure there is convenient, well-lit, ample parking for your guests. If such conveniences aren’t an option, find out if the site offers valet or shuttle services.

Technical details. Whether you go for a DJ, band, or iPod playlist, inquire after any music restrictions the venue might have. Is there sufficient power for speakers, mixers, and amplifiers? Are the acoustics suited to live music? Some sites have built-in public-address systems that can be used to introduce the wedding party and to toast the bride and groom. If your venue doesn’t provide this equipment, find out if your DJ or musicians can. Or, look into microphone and speaker rentals yourself – your contact person should be able to walk you through the wiring hook-ups prior to your wedding day.

Décor. Most reception-ready sites offer a neutral background to work with, but see that the flooring, ceiling, and wall coverings work well with the style and season of your wedding. So that nothing clashes, some brides even wait to decide on their color scheme until after they’ve procured a venue. In terms of decorative details, find out what you’re allowed to bring in as far as tangible décor and lighting. If the reception location is spacious, decorating can be overwhelming. In this case, try concentrating on one element, such as tablescapes. Or, if funds allow, hire a wedding coordinator to assist with site beautification.

Services offered. With each venue you visit, find out in clear terms exactly what services are included. There’s a lot to consider: catering, bar tenders, wait staff, cake cutting – get these details up front.

Personal touches. When looking at sites and imagining your celebration, ask yourself (and your contact person) if you can have fun with this space. Is there a spot for showing a photo and video montage during cocktail hour? Is the layout conducive to a choreographed entrance by the wedding party? Is there room for a photobooth?

A note about outdoor receptions

Given Wisconsin’s unpredictable weather, it’s critical to have a backup plan for any outdoor reception. It’s highly recommended that you employ an experienced wedding coordinator if you have your sights set on an outdoor reception. A coordinator will ease the workload and stress-factor in the days leading up to a “60% chance of rain” wedding day – and will help to make any last-minute changes run smoothly.

The nitty-gritty

As with any wedding vendor, make sure all the details are outlined in writing. Take into account things like service charges, cleaning fees, insurance waivers, and penalties for not fulfilling the food and beverage minimum. Use a credit card whenever possible to make payments so that you have more protection in the unlikely event of a problem.

For more information about receptions in your local area, go to our Local Resources page and select the area that is closest to you.

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The success of your wedding will depend largely on the skill of your caterer. A full-service caterer will provide the food, experienced servers, linens, chair covers, china, glassware, silverware and serving dishes. Find a caterer who will guide you in your menu planning, listen to your ideas, and make innovative suggestions. Aided by your caterer’s creativity and professionalism, you can host a truly delightful and memorable affair.

You may find that the more time you can save in planning your wedding, the better. Our bridal show can be the one stop shopping experience you need to plan your entire wedding, especially if you go prepared. Here are a few tips on how to get the most out of Premier Bride Showplace:

Plan In Advance – Make a list of what you will need most and what your budget will allow for each item and service. Be sure to leave some room for the unexpected – you never know when you may see something you’ll want to have that you never thought of.

Be Ready To Make Decisions – Bring the major decision-makers to Premier Bride Showplace with you. If you are the major decision-maker, bring someone with you that you can bounce ideas off of. Be ready to book your favorite vendors there at the show. Some exhibitors may even offer day-of-show booking discounts.

Dress For The Occasion – Remember to wear comfortable shoes. Need we explain more on this one?

Fashion Forward – Bring a notepad with you to jot down any dresses or tuxes you like during the fashion show. It will be much easier for you to remember which Bridal Salon featured the gowns you like. You’ll also want to be able to take notes when attending the seminars.

Above all, have fun! Bridal shows may be useful and informative, but they’re also a blast. You’ll have a great time with your family and friends – planning your perfect day!

Sweet Dreams Wedding Cakes and Flowers offers custom cakes of exceptional quality as well as exquisite, full service floral design for all of life’s celebrations. Proudly serving Central California from the Sierras to the Coast for 20 years.

Designer & Baker “It is very gratifying to make people happy by doing something that I love to do.” – Laura Zabicki of Sweet Dreams Cakery

Sweet Dreams Cakery is owned and operated by Laura Zabicki.
Laura has always liked baking and decorating cakes. Her desire to become a professional baker and cake designer led her to obtain a degree in Food Systems Management from Eastern Michigan University. After graduation, she held positions in Michigan, Northern Virginia, and San Diego. Sweet Dreams Cakery was established in 1993, specializing in custom cakes and gourmet desserts for all of life’s celebrations. Sweet Dreams Cakery prides its self on baking everything from scratch. Using all natural, high quality ingredients to provide deliciously moist desserts.
We offer a wide selection of elegant wedding cakes and specialty cakes for all of life’s celebrations.

SWEET DREAMS CAKES

Supreme Cake
This is the ultimate wedding cake. This outstanding confection consists of moist French vanilla or dark chocolate cake layered with tangy raspberry filling, two generous layers of chocolate mousse and a center layer of classic cheesecake.

Specialty Cakes
Specialty cakes are made from scratch using the finest ingredients. All cakes are frosted with a silky buttercream.

“Sweet Dreams” will provide a boxed keepsake cake as a gift for the bride and groom.

Contact Sweet Dreams at: (559)-641-7606

About Premier Bride

Welcome to Premier Bride Fresno, the valley’s most complete wedding website to Central Valley brides! Our directory includes the best wedding professional in and around the Fresno, CA area for your wedding. We are proud to provide you with information for wedding locations, reception sites, caterers, DJ’s, bridal salons, decorators and wedding planners. We also cover Visalia, Clovis, Oakhurst, Madera, Tulare, Lemoore, Reedley, and Selma. Premier Bride, your local wedding resource.

Here we feature our wedding vendors to spotlight their services and specialties. Congratulations on your upcoming event – we wish you a lifetime of happiness, adventure and joy.

We design each invitation order not only around the bride but also the event, so you get a one of a kind product.
Have no idea what you want for your invitations? We have samples and ideas to help with the design process.
We can take care of all your stationary need from the invitations and response cards to map cards, programs and table numbers. We can also help with wedding etiquette guidance.

Wedding and Event Decorating
If you are looking for someone to make your wedding or event beautiful but have taken care of the planning your self, Lemmon Made offers decorating services.

These services include but are not limited to:

Cake table
Head table
Back Drops
Draping
Artistic Display
Birthday parties, Baby showers, and special events
Holiday, Home and Business Decorating

Lemmon Made also offers decorating services for the home and business. We can do entire rooms or just the windows, Lemmon Made will provide a beautiful product. For the business, we can dress your window to give it that big city feel. And coming soon Holiday Decorating, both inside and out.Wedding and Event Planning

Lemmon Made offers many wedding and event planning packages including full service coordination, day of coordination, consultation and budgeting services.

Day of Event coordination packages include:

Attend/conduct rehearsal
Supply vendors and wedding party with an outline of event
Instruct and oversee all duties of participants
Oversee set-up and decorating
Assist bride & maids with dressing
Supervise all vendors and professionals (Including photographers, florist, and caterers)
Ensure everything runs as planned
Handle necessary payments
Supervise entire ceremony and reception
Attend to guests’ special needs
Oversee the tear down of event

Full service coordination packages include all services included in the Day of Event Package plus:

Location search and availability
Styling and designing of event
Vendor search and availability
Retail search and retainment
Budget management
Wedding etiquette guidance
Overview and education
Assistance with all details of the event planning process
Full management on event day including setup and tear down of the event

Welcome, Central Valley Brides!Premier Bride Showplace is the bridal show that you, a Central Valley bride, will want to attend. Here you will find valuable information to help with all of your wedding planning. You’ll have the opportunity to enjoy an elegant fashion show featuring beautiful bridal gowns and meet some of the finest wedding professionals in the Fresno area.

Next Show:

Sunday, August 19, 2012 Fresno Convention Center – New Exhibit Hall

Premier Bride Showplace Tips
You may find that the more time you can save in planning your wedding, the better. Our bridal show can be the one stop shopping experience you need to plan your entire wedding, especially if you go prepared. Here are a few tips on how to get the most out of Premier Bride Showplace:

• Plan In Advance – Make a list of what you will need most and what your budget will allow for each item and service. Be sure to leave some room for the unexpected – you never know when you may see something you’ll want to have that you never thought of.• Be Ready To Make Decisions – Bring the major decision-makers to Premier Bride Showplace with you. If you are the major decision-maker, bring someone with you that you can bounce ideas off of. Be ready to book your favorite vendors there at the show. Some exhibitors may even offer day-of-show booking discounts.

• Dress For The Occasion – Remember to wear comfortable shoes. Need we explain more on this one?

• Fashion Forward – Bring a notepad with you to jot down any dresses or tuxes you like during the fashion show. It will be much easier for you to remember which Bridal Salon featured the gowns you like. You’ll also want to be able to take notes when attending the seminars.

• Above all, have fun! Bridal shows may be useful and informative, but they’re also a blast. You’ll have a great time with your family and friends – planning your perfect day!

The Grove is located on a 24-acre ranch.It retains the quiet country atmosphere present throughout the ranch. This wonderful rural setting is only minutes from the freeway and is centrally located in California. Our beautiful location is in the outskirts of Sanger, CA, Fresno County.

The abundance of trees and vegetation provides a lush, natural backdrop for timeless photographs of your wedding and reception. The Grove is a relaxing and welcoming setting for your reception.
CLICK HERE To Request More Info.

The rental fee includes:

Landscaped, manicured and decoratively lit midway grounds, exclusively yours…no other weddings would be held that day.

Access to the grounds for a rehearsal a day prior.

The stage and dance floor.

Tables, chairs and white linens (tablecloths and napkins) for up to 200 guests (500 capacity).

A large bridal room and a groom’s room, both with a/c and restrooms.

An event coordinator is available during set-up and throughout the wedding and reception.

Security, additional is extra if serving alcohol.

Lighted grass parking area.

You are free to bring any licensed caterer you’d like.

Use of The Grove for an extended rehearsal gathering or dinner is available for an added fee.

The Grove has available (for an added fee), a complete DJ and sound system with lighting which includes your play list and is able to take requests as well. The event coordinator is also included to do any M/C speaking that you’d like to have done…begin toasts, first dance, etc.
Photo montages to music displayed at your event are also available through an associate. CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US

As a one of a kind location, The Fresno Ballroom gives you 9,720 square feet of historic elegance to accommodate all your guests and still give you plenty of room for head tables, musicians, and dancing on the marble floor. You’ll have the flexibility you need to make your special event everything you wish. The architectural design of the Fresno Ballroom is elegant, decorated or not. The beautiful, one-of-a kind gold-gilded ceiling and the mezzanine floor overlooking the ballroom make an impressive backdrop for your keepsake photographs. The Security Bank Building, built in the 1920’s, will bring back memories for your older guests and help create new memories for you, your friends, associates, and family. At the appointed hour, our staff members are on hand to help ensure the success of your event. Parking is convenient, affordable and just steps away from the building.

Ballroom Specifics

Prices of our formal Ballroom include use of the Garden Room (between Kitchen and Ballroom), set-up of tables, and chairs for 497 people, stage, and set ups for bar areas for a six hour event. The caterer of your choice may use our Prep Kitchen. If you desire, we can arrange the catering for you with one of our preferred caterers. Also, you can rent chocolate fountains, center pieces, chair covers, chargers, props, and additional tables and chairs from us. Clean-up of the ballroom is included in the price. If you wish to have a wedding ceremony on site, there is an additional $500.00 charge, which includes an another hour of Ballroom use.

A $500.00 deposit is required to reserve your desired date. Please call us to arrange a tour of our facilities as soon as possible as the available dates are disappearing rapidly. We look forward to making your event memorable!

If you have any further questions, please contact:Banquet Manager(559) 441-7777

The Mezzanine

Our unique Mezzanine overlooks our beautiful Fresno Ballroom, where you can get a close up view of its intricate, gold gilded ceiling. This venue provides the perfect place for:

a private VIP party before the big event in the Ballroom

an area for taking photographs of the wedding party

an elevated point for taking your marriage vows

a location for the band during large events in the Ballroom

a focal area for a conference speaker

a balcony for private conversations or viewing the dance floor during parties

a very special place for a special party

The Banker’s Vault

Our building has the largest vault between L.A. and San Francisco! While our Ballroom is grand and elegant, our Banker’s Vault is fun and whimsical. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres can be served in our vault as well as buffet or sitted dinners. Come help us celebrate this fun venue!